Rochdale child sex ring inquiry blasts care workers

The father of a victim of the Rochdale sex gang has called for the care workers who let his daughter down to be ‘named, shamed and sacked’ – after a report laid bare the extent of their failings. Nine men were jailed in May after being found guilty of exploiting girls as young as 13 as part of a grooming ring.

The father of a victim of the Rochdale sex gang has called for the care workers who let his daughter down to be ‘named, shamed and sacked’ – after a report laid bare the extent of their failings.

Nine men were jailed in May after being found guilty of exploiting girls as young as 13 as part of a grooming ring.

A court heard how the victims were routinely plied with drink and drugs before being passed around for sex.

Today, an independent probe into the failings of Rochdale council, the NHS and police found care workers had:

n Missed opportunities to help the victims and bring the perpetrators to justice

n Concluded that the girls were having consensual sex – and may even have been working as prostitutes

n Refused to believe one of the victim’s stories, instead urging her parents to ‘set boundaries’.

The dad of one of the victims told us he welcomed the report – but said it told him nothing he didn’t already know.

He added: "This is what I’ve been saying for three years. The staff concerned should be named, shamed and sacked.

"Their wrong-doing, their negligence, their mistakes, have ruined lives. If you do wrong in a job you should be sacked. They have not only done wrong, they have ruined lives."

The 29-page report, published today, was drawn up by the Rochdale Borough Safeguarding Board, which is made up of officials involved in various bodies that care for children, including the police, the council and NHS.

The report slams care workers for refusing to believe victims when they first came forward in 2008. Care workers had little understanding of child sexual exploitation, the report says, and instead tended to focus their energies on the parents.

The report noted patchy training and ‘deficiencies’ in the way children’s social workers responded to the victims. It said some care workers became frustrated because they believed managers were failing to act on their concerns.

The document detailed the experience of one victim of sexual abuse, referred to by the pseudonym Suzie. It said care workers didn’t believe her even though she had repeatedly complained, and instead told her parents to ‘set boundaries’.

The report said case files showed staff in the council’s children’s social care department often took no further action as they believed the girls were ‘making their own choices’ and engaging in consensual sexual activity. It added that care staff and their managers ‘did not consistently recognise or understand the nature of the sexually exploitation of children and young people’.

The report did NOT name any individual care workers linked to any of the failings.

Nor did it raise the issue of race – even though the judge who jailed the nine Asian members of the sex ring told them he believed a factor in the abuse was that the girls were ‘not of your community or religion’.

That sparked allegations from victims’ relatives that fears of being branded racist had prevented a prompt investigation.

Jim Taylor, chief executive of Rochdale council, said: "This review highlights that all agencies did not work together adequately and it is very clear that, in the past, council services missed opportunities to offer assistance. I deeply regret this.

"There was more that could, and should have been done to protect the victims when allegations first came to light."

The nine men jailed in May, aged between 24-59, received jail terms of between four and nine years.

They were found guilty of a range of offences including rape and conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child.

The abuse, which centred around two takeaways, began in 2008 and was reported to police by one of the victims that year.

But it was not until 2011 that a prosecution was launched.

Inquiry ignores 'race' claims

RACE had been a major theme during the trial of the nine Asian men accused of systematically sexually abusing a string of white girls.

But it was only when they were finally jailed that anyone in authority suggested publicly it had been a factor in their crimes.

Judge Gerald Clifton told the gang: "I believe that one of the factors that led to that was that they were not of your community or religion."

The court heard most of the men were from Rochdale’s Pakistani community and were married with children.

The gang’s leader, Shabir Ahmed, had repeatedly suggested during the trial he was the victim of a ‘white conspiracy’.

But the judge’s views were hotly contested by police and council bosses. It was only later – when quizzed by MPs – that GMP’s chief constable Sir Peter Fahy conceded figures showed Asian men were over-represented when it came to on-street sexual grooming of children.

One of the few to support the judge was Mohammed Shafiq, of the Rochdale-based Ramadhan Foundation, who said: "We’ve got a problem because these people think white girls are worthless."

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